Adventure Parks seeks approval to send bankruptcy plan to creditors

<p>A week after selling a pair of amusement parks for about $51 million in bankruptcy court, Georgia's Adventure Parks Group LLC has filed a Chapter 11 liquidation plan that promises a "small" payout to unsecured creditors.</p><p>Adventure Parks said the liquidation of its assets may not bring in enough to cover the more than $50 million it owes to lender General Electric Capital Corp.</p><p>Under the Chapter 11 plan filed Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Valdosta, Ga., unsecured creditors will receive "a small distribution" from funds set aside by GE Capital.</p><p>The funds from GE Capital would go to a liquidating trust, which would also be responsible to pursue any lawsuits on behalf of the bankruptcy estate.</p><p>While Adventure Parks didn't say how much creditors could expect to recover, it's presumably better than nothing. That's what creditors could expect if Adventure Parks' managers were forced to transfer control to a trustee and liquidate under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code.</p><p>"If the case is converted to Chapter 7, unsecured creditors will receive nothing," court papers said.</p><p>The plan outline, which explains how and when creditors of a company in Chapter 11 will be paid, must pass muster with a bankruptcy judge before a company can send the plan to creditors for voting.</p><p>Judge Lamar John T. Laney scheduled a hearing on the outline, called a disclosure statement, for Nov. 15.</p><p>Laney signed off on the sale of Adventure Parks' two theme parks last week. Missouri theme park owner Herschend Family Entertainment Corp. paid $34.5 million for Wild Adventures, a 250-acre Georgia animal park. Developer Land South Holdings LLC bought the 71-year-old Florida amusement park Cypress Gardens at auction for $16.8 million.</p><p>Adventure Parks filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2006, the victim of three hurricanes that ripped through Florida and caused more than $20 million in damage to Cypress Gardens.</p><p>The company, which listed assets of $143.2 million and debts of $98.8 million at the time of its bankruptcy filing, has continued to lose money while in Chapter 11.</p>

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